Tennessee Valley Authority Decisions on Paradise 3, Bull Run Coal Units May Come as Early as February

By Bob Matyi

December 4, 2018 - The fates of the Tennessee Valley Authority's remaining 971-MW coal-fired generating unit at its Paradise Steam Plant in Kentucky and its 863-MW Bull Run coal-fired plant in Tennessee could be decided as soon as February, a spokesman for the federal utility said Monday.

When TVA retired two 704-MW coal units at the 2,558-MW Paradise plant in 2017, replacing them with a 1,150-MW natural gas-fired plant, the remaining coal unit -- Unit 3 -- was seen by many as potentially having a long life.

But that may not be the case, as a result of environmental assessments under way on Paradise-3 in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, and Bull Run, in Anderson County, Tennessee.

The impetus for the ongoing reviews is TVA's projection for "flat to essentially declining" load growth across its multi-state system, Brooks said.

The low price of natural gas is another factor that will be considered.

According to TVA, Paradise-3 has "significant future capital needs" to support its compliance with the US Environmental Protection Agency's Coal Combustion Residual and Effluent Limitation Guidelines.

"Moreover, Unit 3 has experienced deterioration in its material condition resulting in reliability challenges and [a] need for large investments," it added. "Further, an emergent steam turbine rotor issue would require significant expenditures as the rotor must be replaced."

At the earliest, the Paradise-/Bull Run evaluations could be presented at the February meeting of TVA's board of directors, according to Brooks. If a decision is made then to retire the units, any closings would not take place before 2020.

Former Armstrong Coal executive Kenneth Allen, who was sworn in as a TVA board member earlier this year, has advocated a go-slow approach to TVA shuttering any additional coal units.